Cardiff Coach, Former Head Coach Of Ireland Keith Bewley Mourned

The British swimming community continues to mourn the passing of Coach Keith Bewley, the City of Cardiff Swimming Club coach and former Head Coach of Swimming Ireland who passed away suddenly this week at the age of 69. Archive photo via courtesy of City of Cardiff Swimming Club

The British swimming community continues to mourn the passing of Keith Bewley, the City of Cardiff Swimming Club coach who passed away suddenly this week at the age of 69. Having been in the coaching field for over 40 years, Bewley is credited with having guided 16 swimmers to Olympic selection over the course of his career. He was on the British Olympic coaching staff for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and was also on staff for 3 Commonwealth Games.

‘Known for his straight talking, but also for his openness and willingness to share his views, experiences and knowledge’, Bewley was Head Coach to Swim Ireland from 2006-08. During that time he set-up Ireland’s first High Performance Swimming Centre at the University of Limerick. (BSCA)

Bewley was inducted into the British Swimming Coaches Association (BSCA) Hall of Fame as an Olympic medal-winning coach after guiding the women’s 4x100m medley relay to silver in 1980. He himself was a two-time medalist as an athlete at the 1966 Commonwealth Games. He became the Elite Performance Coach with the City of Cardiff Swimming Club in October 2009.

Terry Denison MBE, coach to Olympic Gold medallist Adrian Moorehouse, said the following of Keith, “There will be so many stories about Keith. He was always fun to be with. I first spent time with him in Moscow 1980 where we shared a room in the Olympic Village. We often shared clinics. In the following years when Keith had those great swimmers at Wigan – like Steve Poulter, Anne and Janet Osgerby, Gaynor Stanley and so many others. I will remember him as one of those warm characters who made everyone feel welcome and was always fun to be with.” (BSCA)

About Loretta Race

Loretta grew up outside Toledo, OH, where she swam age group and high school. Graduating from Xavier University, she stayed in the Cincinnati, OH area and currently resides just outside the city in Northern KY. Loretta got back into the sport of swimming via Masters and now competes and is …